Maritime regulations and India’s ascent: A Class Society’s view

As the global maritime community gears up for India Maritime Week 2025 (October 27–31), the essential conversations around regulation, technology, and sustainability are set to take centre stage, writes P K Mishra (pictured), Managing Director, Indian Register of Shipping. The event will powerfully highlight India’s expanding role in shaping the future of global shipping—from green shipbuilding and digital transformation to safety, compliance, and capacity building.

The maritime world is changing faster than many of us expected. Regulatory drivers once simply kept pace with the industry; today, they are racing ahead, pushed by aggressive climate targets, digital transformation, and shifting global trade patterns. For classification societies – particularly those rooted in dynamic maritime nations like India—this rapid change presents both a significant challenge and a massive opportunity.

Indian Register of Shipping (IRS), as a national society, a member of IACS, and one of the world’s top ten class societies, acts as a crucial bridge. We verify compliance, advise on design and operations, and help the industry transition safely and efficiently. This article outlines how maritime regulations are reshaping the landscape in India, how a class society like ours responds, and what all stakeholders—shipowners, shipbuilders, and regulators—should expect next.

From checklists to continuous performance

Regulation in shipping has moved decisively from prescriptive, simple checks to outcome-driven frameworks. While historical rules about structure, equipment, and pollution prevention remain foundational, contemporary regulations now add new dimensions: energy performance, lifecycle greenhouse gas accounting, fuel standards, and digital safety.

In practice, this means compliance is no longer a one-time stamp; it's a continuous process tied to how ships are designed, built, fuelled, and operated throughout their entire life. For Indian stakeholders—shipyards, owners, ports, and authorities—the implication is clear: regulatory compliance must be baked into the strategy, not treated as a last-minute afterthought. Classification societies are evolving from mere regulatory bodies into long-term technical partners, translating these new regulatory goals into pragmatic, cost-effective solutions.

Key regulatory shifts driving global shipping

Several global regulatory themes are powerfully reshaping activity in Indian maritime circles:

- Decarbonisation and Fuel Transition: IMO goals and market mechanisms are accelerating demand for highly energy-efficient designs and alternative fuels. Owners must now choose between retrofitting existing vessels, investing in dual-fuel designs, or postponing investments while awaiting fuel standardisation.

- Operational Performance Regimes: Measures like the Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII) and Energy Efficiency Existing Ship Index (EEXI) now require owners to measure, report, and often improve a ship’s operational performance. This directly influences trading patterns, speed profiles, and technical retrofits.

- Air and Water Pollution Control: Stricter Sulphur limits, NOx compliance, Ballast Water Management, and port-centric emission requirements continue to demand technical investments, particularly for older fleets.

- Digital and Cybersecurity Regulations: As ship management becomes increasingly connected, class societies and administrations are called upon to validate cyber risk management, software integrity, and data governance.

- Safety for Novel Ships and Automation: Vessels that are autonomous, remotely operated, or use novel hull forms and materials require a risk-based verification that goes beyond classical checklist approaches.

While these are global drivers, their application in India is uniquely shaped by the local industrial base, port infrastructure, energy ecosystem, and regulatory enforcement capacity.

The Classification Society’s evolving role

Classification societies have always been the technical custodians of seaworthiness. Today, that role multiplies into several strategic functions:

- Verifier of Compliance: We provide independent verification that ships and systems meet both international and national regulations. For administrations lacking technical depth in new areas—such as alternative fuel safety—class societies supply the specialist expertise needed to draft guidance and assess risk.

- Technical Adviser: From design optimisation for energy efficiency to selecting retrofits with the best lifecycle returns, we advise on practicable technical routes that align with both regulation and commercial reality.

- Designer of Novel Solutions: When owners adopt ammonia or hydrogen, or when yards experiment with new materials, class societies develop and apply the necessary rules and testing protocols to ensure safety.

- Data Curator and Analyst: Modern compliance depends on trustworthy data. Class societies build frameworks and tools to validate and audit information on fuel consumption, voyage profiles, and emissions.

- Capacity Builder: Training surveyors, port inspectors, and industry technical staff is a major activity. We transfer knowledge on regulations and emerging technologies so the entire maritime ecosystem can implement changes consistently.

India-specific imperatives for global leadership

India’s maritime sector has unique strengths that shape how it implements these global regulations:

- Maritime Amritkaal Vision 2047 (MAKV 2047): This long-term government vision aims to transform the country into a leading global maritime power, emphasising green ports, sustainable shipping, digitalisation, and shipbuilding capacity. A key ambition is for India to become one of the top five shipbuilding nations by 2047. Classification societies must engage early to ensure rules and standards support these ambitious targets.

- “Chips to Ships” Vision: The emphasis on Atmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliance) highlights becoming a manufacturing hub from “chips to ships,” underscoring both digital transformation and maritime self-reliance. For classification, this translates directly to the dual challenges of cybersecurity in shipping systems and the rapid scaling up of domestic shipbuilding.

- Fleet Composition: With a mix of modern and aging vessels, Indian shipping must strategically blend retrofitting solutions for older ships with future-proof, green-ready designs for new builds. Class societies help tailor these strategies while ensuring compliance with global and national frameworks.

Practical steps for stakeholders

To navigate this accelerating regulatory landscape, stakeholders should consider these concrete actions:

- Owners/Operators: Conduct fleet-wide regulatory risk assessments. Prioritise measures with the best lifecycle benefit—such as performance monitoring and optimised voyage planning—and plan staged investments for the fuel transition.

- Shipyards: Collaborate with classification societies early in the design phase. Use concept approvals to quickly derisk novel solutions and shorten approval cycles.

- Regulators and Ports: Invest in port fuel infrastructure, inspection capacity, and digital reporting systems. Engage early with the industry to create realistic timelines and incentives for compliance.

- Financial Institutions and Insurers: Align financing and underwriting criteria with regulatory trajectories. Support capital for retrofits and new-builds that demonstrably reduce emissions and operational risk.

Conclusion: Collaborative transition, not disruption

Regulatory change will continue to accelerate. For India—with its growing shipbuilding capabilities, strategic ports, and ambitious maritime vision—this transition can be a powerful engine of competitiveness if managed collaboratively.

Classification societies are not mere gatekeepers of rules; we are enablers of safe innovation. By partnering with owners, yards, regulators, and financiers, we can help India meet its global obligations while nurturing a resilient, future-ready maritime industry.

The task ahead is complex, but it is manageable—provided we adopt a pragmatic, phased, and cooperative approach. Safety must remain the non-negotiable baseline; decarbonisation, digitalisation, and new fuels are the pathways to a more sustainable and prosperous maritime future for India.